5 Things To Feed Your Star Wars: The Force Awakens Fever

A little more than a day to go till what might possibly be the biggest movie debut of the year, and one can’t help but get infected by all the hype surrounding it. Star Wars: The Force Awakens hits theaters tomorrow, and fans all over the world seem to be finding it hard to get through the last few hours without blowing up into a thousand tiny pieces of boundless excitement. The seventh episode in the Star Wars saga got its world premiere yesterday and was met by positive reviews, which further fueled the global fever. If, like us, you too are beginning to lose your Jedi-like patience in anticipation of Episode VII, here are a few things to give you your Star Wars fix till the time you get to see the movie.

1. Binge-Watch the First Six Episodes Again

We’ll start off with the simplest, most obvious choice for passing time the Star Wars way – watching the first six episodes of the Star Wars film saga, all in one go, if you have the time and the stamina.

If you can’t spare time for the entire series, we recommend that you go with the original trilogy (Episodes IV, V and VI) instead of the prequels (Episode I, II and III), The Force Awakensis a sequel to the former and the seventh installment in the saga.

2. Read Through This Summary of the Star Wars Timeline

The Star Wars timeline isn’t limited to the events that transpire in the movies. Although Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm resulted in countless canonical (or “official”) events being scrapped from the fictional history of the franchise to make room for a new story, there still remains quite a collection of stories outside of the films in the form of TV series, books, comics and video games that a true fan would need to fill in the blanks between episodes – Episode VI and The Force Awakens, in particular.

You can’t, of course, go through all that content in a day or two, so here are a couple of neatly laid out summaries of the Star Wars canonical timeline to help you brush up on your Star Wars lore before the big day.

Google has released a total of three Star Wars-themed mini-projects for fans in celebration of the franchise and its revival. One of those is an experimental game called Lightsaber Escapecreated in collaboration with Lucasfilm. The game offers an immersive, first-person experience, putting the player in control of a Jedi warrior attempting to escape The First Order.

It runs within Google’s Chrome browser and links to your smartphone, turning it into a virtual lightsaber, which you can then wave around to deflect Blaster Rifle rounds and take down Stormtroopers, and if you turn up its volume, you’ll even be able to hear the iconic fictional weapon’s signature humming, buzzing and crackling sound effects.

4. Set Your Star Wars-Themed Facebook Profile Photo

Facebook recently rolled out Star Wars-themed profile photo overlays, allowing fans to show their love for the franchise on the social network. The overlays come in two flavors – one with Kylo Ren’s crossguard lightsaber, for those who favor the dark side of the force, and another with Finn’s blue lightsaber, for those who’d rather side with the good guys.

You can try it out on your own profile picture by heading to this example post by the official Star Wars Facebook page.

5. Shoot Star Wars-Themed Videos with Action Movie FX

As it always does every time one of its movies nears its release, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions updated its popular Action Movie FX app for iPhone with Star Wars-themed effects. The app itself is available for free but you will have to pay for all but one of the seven effects in the Star Wars pack. Good news is, the effects pack is currently available for 30% off its original price. You’re now $1.99 and a couple of clicks away from adding the adorable BB-8 to your videos, or a wrathful Darth Vader who you’ve disappointed for the last time.

I'm an engineer, blogger, and graphic designer who loves creating and experimenting with different forms of online content when he's not looking for a mix of inspiration and escape in PC gaming, comic books and anime. You can find me on Twitter and Google+.